


Bones

by buoyantsaturn



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Lots of bones, M/M, You can probably guess why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 10:02:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11033916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: “Did you just throw a handful of bones outside?” she asked carefully.“Yes,” Will answered immediately. “Why was there a pile of bones in here in the first place?”





	Bones

**Author's Note:**

> disregard the bad title im bad at titles

On the one day in weeks that Will thought he would be able to sleep in, he was woken at the same time as usual by a shrill scream. He jumped up in his bed, smacking his forehead against the bottom of the bunk above him, rubbing his head as he hurried to get his feet on the ground. Still in his pajamas, Will ran onto the porch where Kayla was cowering against the side of the cabin, stuttering and pointing at something on the floor. 

Will looked around to try to find the problem, expecting a spider or maybe a mouse, but what he found appeared to be a small pile of short white sticks. He crouched down in front of the pile, reaching a hand out to pick up one of the sticks when Kayla screamed again.

“No, don’t touch it!” Kayla cried. 

“What?” Will asked, pulling his hand back a few inches. “What’s the problem?”

“Those are bones! Animal bones!” she told him. “What kind of sick person pulls a prank like this?”

Will stood up, noticing for the first time the crowd of people lingering outside their cabins, watching them - most still in their pajamas, some with weapons in their hands as if expecting some kind of attack. His eyes trailed toward the black cabin at the edge of the green, spotting Nico with a sword in his hands, wearing only a t-shirt and boxer shorts, face becoming redder with each passing second.

Will’s eyes dropped back down to the pile of bones in front of him before glancing up at Nico, though the other boy was gone, his cabin door slamming behind him. 

“It’s, uh--” Will hesitated. “Probably just Lou Ellen trying to mess with me. It’s nothing, Kayla, I’ll clean it up.”

“Well it was an  _ awful _ thing to do,” Kayla insisted, finally starting to calm down. “Tell her she can’t do that again!” She kept her eyes on the small pile of bones, carefully stepping around them toward the porch steps. 

Will rolled his eyes at his sister’s actions, turning back toward the doorway and reaching inside until his hand found a broom leaning against the wall. He swept the pile of bones off the porch between the posts in the railing, watching as they hit the ground, sinking into the earth like a cartoon character in quicksand.

He frowned down at the ground for a short moment before looking up at the surrounding cabins. Everyone had returned to their regular activities, no longer paying any attention to the Apollo cabin. Will’s eyes lingered for a little longer than they should have on the Hades cabin before deciding that he wouldn’t press the issue unless it happened again, then walked back into his cabin where his younger siblings were getting ready for breakfast. 

 

Nico usually liked to hide in the woods, unless there was some group activity going on that made it impossible for him to find a quiet place to himself - in which case, he camped out in his cabin. 

After embarrassing himself that morning by running out into the middle of camp in his underwear, Nico needed some time to himself. So he threw on some pants and shadow traveled himself into the woods. He walked around until he found a mostly-shady patch of grass from which he could just barely see the ring of cabins in the distance, and sat down with his back against a tree.

He set a hand on the ground next to him, barely even concentrating on bringing long-buried bones to the surface, and breathed out heavily when the bones of a squirrel reanimated and scampered around Nico’s feet. 

“Hey, buddy,” Nico said softly, holding out his hand and letting the squirrel run up his arm. “I scared a bunch of kids this morning because they found a bunch of bones, but I don’t think they realized it was me. I think I heard Will say that he thought it was Lou Ellen.” 

The squirrel ran across Nico’s shoulders and slid down his other arm, dropping into his lap. “Stupid, right? Lou Ellen can’t even reanimate skeletons. All she can do is play with the Mist.” He huffed, propping his head in his hand. “And all I can do is run away from people. The only things I can even talk to are the ones I brought back from the dead. I should probably stop doing that, right? It’s kinda weird. The talking to you part, mostly, but also just in general. I wouldn’t even have had this problem if I hadn’t reanimated that mouse in the middle of the night, anyway.”

The squirrel stared up at him with the hollowed out holes in its skull, and tilted its head questioningly. Nico sighed. “Time to go, buddy. Hope you enjoyed the sunlight while it lasted.”

The squirrel hopped off his legs and melted back into the dirt as soon as it hit the ground.

 

Will loved working in the infirmary, and he loved hanging out with his younger siblings, but sometimes, he just wanted some time  _ alone. _ Unluckily for him, a day off from the infirmary meant a day full of other activities designed for kids ages ten-and-under. He spent about an hour in the cabin with his siblings after breakfast, making sure that their bunks were clean and the room was organized. Then, they went to the arts and crafts tent while they waited for their allotted time in the arena. 

Thankfully for Will, Rachel had started spending a lot of her free time with the arts and crafts, since she hadn’t had much luck in returning her gift of prophecy, so she set all of the kids up with an activity. Will had to supervise, walking around and making sure none of his siblings made a mess of themselves. 

At one point, his seven year old brother Isaac ran over to him and tugged on the hem of his t-shirt to get Will’s attention. “Will, Will! We found these sticks on the ground over there! They look like the sticks that Kayla found at the cabin!”

Will crouched down and Isaac held out his hand. Sure enough, about five bones the size of Isaac’s chubby fingers rest in his hand. Will frowned down at them.

“What are they, Will?” Isaac asked.

Will took the bones out of his brother’s hand. “Just sticks, Isaac. I’ll clean them up, you can go ahead and get back to your craft, okay?” He patted Isaac on the shoulder, gently pushing him back toward his seat, before hurrying over to collect the rest of the bones in his hand. He stepped into the doorway, tossing them out into the grass and watching as they dissolved into the ground.

He turned back, jumping in place when he found himself face-to-face with Rachel.

“Did you just throw a handful of bones outside?” she asked carefully.

“Yes,” Will answered immediately. “Why was there a pile of bones in here in the first place?”

“I was just about to ask you the same question,” Rachel responded, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I don’t know!” Will exclaimed, wincing at the volume of his own voice. “When I closed up the infirmary last night, there was a bunch sitting on the steps, like a tiny skeleton was trying to get inside while I was there, and then there were more this morning at our cabin! Why are  _ bones _ following me?”

Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t think it’s the  _ bones _ that are following you, but I think someone might be trying to get your attention.”

“Who,  _ Hades?” _ he asked, and winced again. “Is it my time? Is this my warning that my days are numbered?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I’d have to guess that it’s  _ not _ Hades,” Rachel told him, letting out a laugh. “Someone related, possibly.”

“A different Underworld god, then?” Will said with a huff. “Hecate, maybe? Or it’s Lou, like I thought this morning. She’s totally just playing a trick on me, right?”

“Will, I  _ don’t know,” _ Rachel said again, barely containing her laughter. “Besides, Lou couldn’t do that, anyway. She can make you  _ think _ you’re seeing bones everywhere, but not actually touch them, let alone pick them up.  _ And, _ if I could see them, clearly they’re real bones. I think you’ve got someone else that’s got an eye on you.”

“Someone who wants me dead, you mean.”

Rachel struck up a thinking pose. “Well, the only person I know of that can make piles of bones appear is Nico, so unless he wants you dead--” She paused, looking at the deep red blush now covering Will’s face. “Ooh, either you  _ really _ like the idea that Nico wants your attention, or you totally just remember that he wants to kill you. Which is it?”

“What? No! Neither!” Will said quickly, defensively.

“I think he’s in the arena today,” Rachel reminded him. “That’s where you’re going next, right? So, I guess either watch out or good luck.” She winked at him before turning away and walking back over to Will’s siblings, finally finishing up their crafts. 

Just in time for Will to meet certain death, probably.

 

Will’s hands were shaking as he led his siblings into the arena. Inside, he saw a handful of wooden practice swords laying out on the ground, Mrs. O’Leary in the corner chewing on a giant bone, and Nico standing near her, stretching his arm across his chest. 

Before Will could tell his siblings to take a seat and wait for their class to start, a few of them ran toward Nico, shouting his name and hugging his legs once they reached him. Nico met Will’s eyes across the room, but Will ducked his head before Nico’s gaze could turn into a glare (it didn’t - instead, Nico pouted at what seemed to be Will’s complete disinterest in him).

The two of them were able to wrangle the kids into a semicircle on the ground in the middle of the arena. Before Nico could sit down in front of them, Will said, “So, uh, how did you manage to find those giant bones for Mrs. O’Leary?”

Nico cocked his head to the side. “Chiron ordered them for her. Why?”

Will seemed to deflate at Nico’s answer. “Oh! Uh, no reason?”

“Did you think I pulled them out of thin air, or something?” Nico asked, lips turning down into a frown.

“No, no, of course not,” Will said quickly. “But, I mean, you  _ can _ do that, can’t you?”

Nico’s cheeks grew a faint pink color. “Well, yeah, but I wouldn’t disrespect the dead so much as to let Mrs. O’Leary use somebody’s bones as a chew toy.”

“Right, no, of course not--”

“I need to get started,” Nico cut in, throwing his thumb over his shoulder and walking away as soon as the words were out of his mouth. As Nico sat down with the kids and began the class, Will fell back against the wall, hiding his face in his crossed arms. 

He had to start paying attention when everyone paired off and practiced a few basic sword techniques because Nico couldn’t keep an eye on everyone at the same time, but Will didn’t mind. As long as he didn’t make a fool of himself in front of Nico again.

Class ended when the Athena cabin came into the arena, and Will was thankful that the level of awkward in the room decreased exponentially at their arrival. He told his siblings to pack up quickly and wait for him by the door before he took a deep breath, steeled his nerves, and went to talk to Nico.

“Hey, Nico,” he started once he’d gotten the other boy’s attention. “I know you’re busy right now, and I have to take my siblings to their next activity, but I need to talk to you sometime. After the campfire tonight, maybe?” Nico nodded cautiously, and Will tried for a smile. “Okay, cool, I’ll come find you tonight, then.” And he ran out of there as fast as he could.

 

The rest of the day dragged on, and Will became more and more nervous with each passing activity. Finally, when the campfire rolled around, he was practically shaking in his seat with how nervous he was. He decided that he couldn’t wait until after the sing-alongs that night, and went to find Nico immediately. Naturally, he wasn’t anywhere near the campfire, but sitting in his cabin instead.

Will hadn’t been expecting to be invited into Nico’s cabin, so when Nico closed the door behind himself and took a seat on the steps, Will wasn’t surprised, only sat next to him.

They were completely silent for a while, and the sing-along songs could easily be heard from where they sat. 

“Did you want to talk about something or can I go back inside?” Nico asked, the words coming out a lot harsher than he’d intended. 

Will winced. “Yeah, sorry, I uh--” He cleared his throat and focused his eyes on the dead grass in front of Nico’s cabin. “This is gonna sound really weird, and I don’t want to offend you by just  _ assuming _ things, but, uh. I keep finding bones? Like, piles of them, if I’m in one place for too long. Rachel said I should probably talk to you about it, but I don’t--”

“Sorry,” Nico said softly, wrapping his arms around himself and turning his face away. “It’s creepy and weird, I know. I don’t really mean for it to happen, but-- I’ll try harder to make it stop.”

“I mean, it was kinda weird, yeah, but I was more worried about  _ why,” _ Will told him. “They weren’t really that noticeable, but when I  _ did _ notice, I kinda started thinking that someone was out to get me, and Rachel said you might be mad at me for something.”

“I’m not,” Nico said quickly. “I’m not mad at you. That’s not it.”

“Okay. Then why?” Will tried again. “Rachel said that maybe it was because you wanted to get my attention somehow, but I couldn’t think of any reason  _ why.” _

Nico didn’t answer for a few moments, instead started scuffing the toe of his show into the ground. “I guess you could say that,” he mumbled. “That I...wanted your attention.”

“You did?” Will asked, sitting up straighter, turning to face Nico fully, but the other boy shied away. “Why?”

Nico made a whining noise in the back of his throat. “I don’t know, because I  _ like you, _ maybe?” he shouted, and thought,  _ okay, maybe I am a little mad at you. _

“You do?”

Nico rolled his eyes and finally,  _ finally, _ turned toward Will, glaring up at the other boy. “Yes! Do you want me to write it down for you, or something? Then will you understand and stop _ embarrassing me?” _

“No, no, I understand,” Will told him, smiling brighter than the moon above them. “It’s just a little hard to believe, you know? Because I like you too. I guess I just didn’t realize that leaving piles of bones for people to find is a valid form of courting.”

“Shut up,” Nico said softly, shoving at Will’s arm. “It wasn’t  _ courting, _ and they weren’t little piles. I can’t just summon individual bones like that.”

Will tilted his head to the side. “If they weren’t piles, then what were they?”

Nico stared into his eyes for a short moment before looking toward the ground, holding a hand out, palm down. The dirt started to bubble, and soon enough a small pile of bones appeared on the ground. They rattled for a second before forming into the shape of a field mouse, climbing onto Nico’s sneaker and then up his leg.

“Oh my gods, you can reanimate skeletons?” Will exclaimed, holding out his hand and letting the mouse skitter onto his palm. “That’s so cool!”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading i hope you enjoyed it!!!  
> keep an eye out for another thing an anon on tumblr convinced me to post ;)


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